In the world of Cosplay short for "costume play", twenty-year-old Karina Perez found real relief from her anxiety, dressing up as fictional characters and becoming part of an open and loving community of cosplayers.

Editor’s Note: I have been helping run workshops inside Santa Clara County’s Juvenile Hall over the past 6 months with a program called The Beat Within that generates a magazine every two weeks from writings coming from Juvenile Hall. The strength and resilience of these young people continue to amaze me with them being 14 to 18 years old. Below are some reflections from inside Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall.

We recently had the honor of sharing our work and perspectives to a powerful group of social scientists, public defenders, and academics from across the country who came together through the National Science Foundation to discuss a profoundly important question for anyone concerned with justice: What is quality representation? So to bring something to the table, we just asked people who come to our meetings for families who’s loved ones are facing the court system that basic question. Here is their responses.

The Reclaiming Ourselves Art Show was a night of celebration, of courage and holding space for survivors of domestic violence to share words that for some were the first time ever spoken to an audience.

The Bay Area is booming. Riding waves of tech innovation and venture capitalism, residents are speculating and accumulating faster than ever before. Yet, as some drive growth, others struggle to survive it. Anxieties about the rising costs of living abound. Rapid change can be invigorating, but it can also alienate and divide. Status Update emphasizes the perspectives of local and outside artists currently working in the region.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the closing (12/4/14) of The Jungle - the largest homeless encampment in the nation. Meanwhile, Housing for All Alliance, a group of individuals and organizations who work for all to be housed, has proposed a moratorium on sweeps of smaller camps and the establishment of sanctioned encampments. Housing For All member Phil Mastracola writes that San Jose City Council can bring back stability to our most vulnerable by voting for legal campsites at a meeting this Tuesday. Housing for All is holding a press conference today at 2pm to support the proposal, and is calling on community members to attend the meeting.